Yen Weakens as Japan’s Azumi says G-7 agrees on currency moves

The yen weakened against the dollar after Japanese Finance Minister Jun Azumi confirmed agreement among the Group of Seven nations to cooperate on extreme currency moves.

The euro fell versus most of its major counterparts as Spanish Budget Minister Cristobal Montoro said the nation faces difficulties in accessing capital markets. The pound fell versus the dollar after Egan-Jones Ratings Co. cut the U.K.’s credit ranking. Japan’s currency weakened after Azumi said a conference call with G-7 finance officials didn’t oppose Japan’s September statement calling for cooperation to address disorderly foreign- exchange swings.

“Comments from Azumi elevate the risk that we will see official action from Japan,” said Eric Viloria, senior currency strategist for Gain Capital Group LLC in New York. “We’ve already been hearing rumors about stealth intervention and that’s keeping the yen from strengthening.”

The yen dropped 0.5 percent to 78.69 per dollar at 9:50 a.m. in New York after strengthening to 78.11. Japan’s currency was little changed at 97.93 per euro. The 17-nation currency fell 0.4 percent to $1.2454.

Canada’s dollar advanced against its U.S. peer after central bank policy makers said they may raise interest rates with the domestic economic recovery proceeding as forecast, even as global risks have increased.

Canada’s currency rose 0.2 percent to C$1.0378 cents per U.S. dollar after falling as much as 0.3 percent.

Aussie Gains

Australia’s dollar rallied 0.1 percent to 97.40 U.S. cents even after the Reserve Bank of Australia lowered borrowing costs by 0.25 percent to 3.5 percent. Swaps data compiled by Bloomberg had shown a more than 40 percent change of a 0.5 percent reduction.

Spain called for outside support for the first time to battle the financial crisis.